The president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has abruptly fired his foreign minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, and replaced him with the current head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, Ali Akbar Salehi, state media reported 13 December. Mottaki was on an official trip to Senegal. The government says that its foreign and nuclear policies remain unchanged.
Rumours of Mottaki’s imminent departure have been heard for the past few years, according to CNN. He was seen as standing in the way of Ahmadinejad’s control of foreign policy and was backed by Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. His replacement was Iran’s top envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency, which is trying to bring Iran’s nuclear ambitions in line with its international committments.
Several Iranian diplomats have defected recently and publicly joined the growing Iranian opposition movement following disputed elections in June 2009, reports Le Temps.
Links to other sites: AFP, New York Times
Iran’s Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Tuesday 10 November that the three US hikers detained by Iran after they strayed across the border from Iraq last July face charges of illegally entering the country. Other charges may be filed. The US has called for the three to be released, and insists that they were wrongly detained. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in Germany Monday 9 November, “We believe strongly that there is no evidence to support any charge whatsoever.” AFP , AP (video)
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The question marks hanging over Iran’s nuclear activities, peaceful or warlike or possibly both, are bringing together in Geneva today 1 October top officials from Iran and the group known as 5+1: Britain, China, France, Russia, the United States and Germany. It follows an earlier meeting of the group in July 2008, which ended on a sour note, and where the head of the US delegation, William Burns, reportedly left the room to avoid shaking hands with his Iranian counterpart, Saeed Jalili. Early in 2009 US President Barack Obama’s administration said it intended to take a fresh approach, and Obama has since said that he wants to allow time to reassess the US relationship with Iran.
This session is described by Iran as an opportunity to discuss security in the region, and by some of the others as a chance for Iran to clarify its nuclear activities. It is also being seen in the West as a chance for China and Russia, whose attitudes towards Iran may have shifted in the past year, to provide their reaction to the announcement that Iran has a uranium enrichment plant at Qom.
